Dear Colleagues,
Today, Friday 8 March 2019, is my final day as President and Vice-Chancellor of our University and I will start by thanking our staff and students who I have enjoyed working with during my time at Southampton.
Together, our University community has achieved a great deal since 2015 and the University is well placed to continue to strengthen its position into the future.
There have been many memorable moments for me here at Southampton. Successes such as our students winning the Enactus World Championship in 2015, the 2018 Queen’s Anniversary Prize, hosting one of the highest numbers of National Teaching Fellowships, winning national research centres such as the Biofilm Innovation Centre, UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC), Faraday Institution, being invited to join the Alan Turing Institute, and the award of the Regius Chair in Oceanography.
I will miss turning on the Christmas Lights and the fantastic sense of occasion bringing together students and staff. Graduation is a special time and I have personally graduated over 50,000 students in my 14 years as a VC (across two universities) – that’s a lot of hand-shaking!
I have thoroughly enjoyed visiting our specialist campuses at Winchester School of Art for degree shows, and NOC in Southampton’s Port to learn more about our oceans and their exploration. If I had not been an engineer, I would have chosen to study medicine, so I was fortunate to be able to visit the Medical School regularly and to catalyse the creation of new and much-needed purpose-built facilities. I have also enjoyed my many visits to Avenue and the chance to talk with many of you at Highfield.
When I arrived, I was told we were beginning a philanthropic journey to raise £25m for the new Cancer Immunology Centre, which I felt – although a fantastic goal – was also a little daunting. I was delighted that we raised the funds and delivered the building in less than three years. This project brought together our whole community to support fundraising in such an enthusiastic and heart-warming fashion, as well as instilling support in our generous donors.
I have been so impressed by the dedication and enthusiasm of our staff and students, especially on Open Days. Our visitors often told me how fantastic this University is, and at recent events that our Open Days are better those of our competitors!
Perhaps the most moving of the events I was involved with were the new-format Vice-Chancellor’s Awards, which received nearly 600 nominations in the last two years, and where many colleagues, nominated by their peers for going the extra mile, received well-earned recognition. I will never forget the Boldrewood Cleaning Team’s enthusiastic acceptance of their award in 2017!
Our University has a fantastic diversity of subjects, which make up our education, research and enterprise portfolio. I’ve been fortunate to visit most activities in the University, and I still tell the people I meet outside our community about our incredibly impressive research – its depth, breadth and the positive impact it’s having upon society and the wider world.
The current national emphasis on student experience has led to a relative lack of visibility in the media of the remarkable achievements in research and enterprise by UK universities. The seismic shift in higher education in the UK that has occurred over the past 30 years has led to over five times as many students studying at our universities than in 1990, and this has brought with it public and political scrutiny.
As I come to the end of nearly 40 years working in higher education, I reflect on the many changes that have happened over my career and that the last five years, in particular, have seen unprecedented changes imposed on universities, their staff and students, by government.
In 1990 when I was a senior lecturer, universities received £9,000 per student plus maintenance grants and other funding from the government. Nearly 30 years on, students are now paying up to £9,250 in tuition fees, but with no capital funding. Income per student has stood still, while there has been 116 per cent inflation over this period (Office for National Statistics). More significantly, the expectations placed on us by students, government and other stakeholders have grown significantly, and we now work in one of the most heavily regulated sectors – even though only half of our income comes from the taxpayer.
Education, and teaching and support in particular, have improved enormously over the past 40 years. On the journey to improving our student experience, I’ve read every piece of NSS feedback submitted in the past four cycles – sharing details with UEB and Faculties to help improve our student engagement. I launched the Student Forum in 2016, to give students the chance to bring their feedback directly to senior staff, with a commitment to resolving as many issues as possible within four weeks.
Over the last three-and-a-half years, I’ve spent a large portion of my time meeting with staff and students, to listen to their thoughts and feedback. Among the many changes brought about as a result of these meetings, I am particularly proud to have championed the Extended Carers’ Leave Policy for staff.
In March 2018, I signed the Race Equality Charter on behalf of our University, committing us to improving the representation, progression and success of our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff and students. I have also acted as Diversity Champion and I have been very grateful for the support and enthusiasm of colleagues in embracing diversity and inclusivity, and supporting gender and LGBT+ initiatives, including signing the University up to Stonewall.
Southampton is a highly regarded, world-class University and our international academic engagement in Malaysia and Dalian has helped build our position in the ASEAN region. I leave the University with record levels of international undergraduate and postgraduate taught applications (up 21% and 31% respectively on last year); while our UCAS applications are up 5.4% on last year, ahead of our competitor peer group and well ahead of the sector average.
Universities are enduring establishments that are key parts of our society and as Vice-Chancellor, I am conscious of the responsibility I have had to ensure that we not only address immediate matters, but also safeguard long-term success. I have always said that universities are about the people in them but alongside this, we also need suitable facilities and a pleasant working environment.
In the absence of government capital funding, we secured a £300m bond at a record low interest rate, enabling us to invest in our facilities and infrastructure for students and staff, replace ageing buildings, and create campuses fit for the future. Highfield’s Centenary Building and Boldrewood’s National Infrastructure Laboratory will open this year, and we are developing plans for improvements across all our campuses. When it comes to the wider Southampton area, I was delighted to be present at the long-awaited opening of Studio 144, located at the heart of our city’s Cultural Quarter.
In closing, I wish our University and its community every success for the future. I am sure you will build on the successes delivered by our focus on quality and student experience. Although, sadly, there are those who might wish to criticise universities, I believe they are remarkable places, especially Southampton.
Professor Sir Christopher Snowden
President and Vice-Chancellor
